Penguin Chick Live Chat with Aquarium of the Pacific

The Aquarium of the Pacific recently announced the birth of a fluffy Magellanic Penguin chick, and explore brings you to its nursery nest cam live! To celebrate this new arrival, the Aquarium will host a live chat with marine animal expert Dudley Wigdahl this Wednesday at 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET.

Proud penguin parents Roxy and Floyd welcomed the chick on June 5th. More recently, the young one was moved to the nursery for safety since Magellanic Penguin chicks are born with a downy layer of plumage that is not watertight. Soon its down will be replaced by watertight juvenile feathers, a process called fledging. The chick’s gender will be determined through a blood test around then. During its time in the nursery, the chick will learn to swim and to take hand-fed fish.

Get your penguin nesting questions ready for Dudley, meet him at the Penguin Nest Cam during the live chat, and ask away in the comments section below the player!

Dudley Wigdahl has over three decades of experience in animal husbandry. His key areas of expertise include marine biology and ocean conservation. He is knowledgeable about penguins, sea otters, seals, sea lions, puffins and auklets, wetland birds, and various other marine mammals and birds. He has been with the Aquarium of the Pacific since 2007.

questions for Dudley:
how is Elvis and when is he expected to return to the exhibit?
the regular penguin exhibit watchers have noticed that the feeding times seem to vary. is this a purposeful decision by keepers, in order to provide enrichment (variety) to the penguins or is it just that the keeper schedules vary a bit daily?

Theveens

Do they ever go back to the parents? He looks so sad.

mosaic_world

question for Dudley:
is there an understanding of why a number of eggs were not viable this season?